Elevators for bowling pin setting machines



Sept. 1, 1959 P. TROIANO I 2,902,282

' ELEVATORS FOR BOWLING PIN SETTING MACHINES Filed June 20, 1957 3. Sheets-Sheet 1 7" 3 41 26 N E I -I-- 1 w F? a;

I I n I I 0 1 40 /nvenior.- 1 Paf Pain/w P. TROIANO ELEVATORS FOR BOWLING PIN SETTING MACHINES Sept. 1, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 20, 1957 /nrenfor= P07 71 0/0/70 Sept. 1, 1959 P. TROIANO ELEVATORS FORBOWLING PIN SETTING MACHINES Filed June 20, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Awe/1701.- P217 72 0/4/70 2,902,282 Patented Sept. 1, 1959 EEEVATURS FOR BOWLING PIN SETTING MACHINES Pat Troiano, Washington, D.C..

Application June- 20, 1957, Serial No; 666,984 7 Claims. (Cl. 273-43):

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in bowling pin setting machines, and in particular relates to elevators of such machines whereby balls and pins gathered by the usual sweep mechanism of the alley are conveyed and deposited into respective ball and pinchutes for delivery of the balls back to the player and for delivery of the pins to the usual set-up mechanism.

The aforementioned ball and pin.delivery chutes are usually located at different levels of the elevator, the ball chute being at one level and the pin chute being spaced above it, and separate means are provided for ejecting the balls and the pins from the elevator into the respective chutes. In conventional machines, such ejecting means are of a complex nature, involving power-actuated tilting of the pin and/ or ball carrying members of the elevator 80 as to dump the pins and/or balls therefrom, further complicated by automatic actuating and control means for the tilting mechanism so that its operation takes place in proper sequence and so that the balls and pins are discharged into their proper chutes without obstructing or otherwise interfering with the operation of the elevator as a whole. Complex ejecting means of such conventional type are not only expensive to purchase and to install, but also require constant attention in order to remain in good service, and often come out of adjustment so that the operation of the entire alley is interrupted with damaging results.

The principal object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages above outlined, this being attained by the provision of a combined ball and pin ejector device for use with the elevator mechanism, whereby the balls and pins carried by the elevator are efficiently and dependably discharged into their respective chutes without tilting or otherwise actuating the ball and pin. carrying members of the elevator, and without the use of complex actuating or control mechanism such as is commonly employed in: conventional machines.

An important feature of the invention therefore resides in its extremely simple construction employing a very small number of substantially non-moving parts, as compared to conventional arrangements wherein numerous gears, rotating shafts, cams, sliding. pins, etc., were utilized.

Another important feature of the invention resides in its adaptability for installation in various conventional machines as a replacement for the relatively complex corresponding mechanisms previously employed, thereby rendering such machines more dependable and easier to service.

Another important feature of the invention resides in its durability resulting from. its fabrication of metallic material which does not become worn or otherwise damaged by contact of moving pins and balls therewith, yet I provision; of means for adjusting the ball ejecting portion of the device relative to the pin ejecting portion, whereby to properly coordinate the same with the respective sizes of balls and pins ejected thereby, it being understood that the broad teachings of. the invention are applicable to duck pin as wellas ten pin machines.

With the foregoing more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may be come apparent asthis specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction, with the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference are employed. to designate like parts, and. wherein:

Figure 1-. is a vertical sectional view, in: fragmentary form, of the elevator of a bowling pin setting machine, showing the invention embodied. therein;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary rear elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, similar to that shown in Figure 1 but illustrating a pin carried by the elevator past the ball discharge chute;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the ejector bracket;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the ball guide;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional detail showing the adjusting means of the ejector bracket; and

Figure 7 is a horizontal sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of. the line 7-7 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the: accompanying drawings in detail, it is to be understood that. they illustrate only those portions of a pin setting machine with which the invention is directly concerned and that, apart from the ball and pin ejector mechanism herein described and claimed, the general structure of the machine is conventional and well known in the art. Moreover, although one particular form of the ball and pin elevator has been shown for illustrative purposes, the use of the invention is not necessarily limited thereto and the invention may be employed with elevators of various similar types. In any event, the main frame of the bowling pin setting'machine is indicated by the reference numeral 10, while the ball and pin elevator is designated generally by the numeral 11. The elevator is carried by a sub-frame 12 and includes spaced, opposing endless runs of chain 13, passing around suitable sprockets 14 on shafts 15 journalled in the sub-frame. Pairs of spaced opposing platform menrbers or carriers 16 are secured to the runs of chain 13, whereby both balls and pins 17, 18, respectively, may be conveyed by the elevator.

The arrangement thus far described is conventional and well known in the art, it being understood that upon being swept from the-alley, the balls and pins are deposited in the bottom of the elevator in the space between the runs of chain 13, where they are individually picked up by the members 16 and carried upwardly as indicated by the arrow 19. A ball delivery chute 20 is provided at an elevated level of the elevator for the purpose of returning balls to the player, while a pin delivery chute 21 is provided at another level, above the chute 2%, for conveying pins to a set-up mechanism (not shown). A conveyor belt 22 is usually provided in the pin chute 21, arid both chutes 20, 21 communicate with the space between the chains 13 of the elevator.

The present inventionconcerns itself with the provision of means for ejecting the balls 17 and the pins 18' from the elevatorinto the respective chutes 20, 21, such means being in the form of a unitary bracket which is designated generally by the numeral 23.

The bracket 23 comprises a relatively long arm 24' and a relativelyshort arm 25, these arms being superposed at one end and rigidly secured together by a plurality of bolts 26 which also serve to secure the bracket. to the machine frame 10 at a point somewhat below the ball delivery chute 20, as is best shown in Figure l. The bolts 26 extend through suitable apertures 27 with which the superposed lower end portions of the arms 24, 25 are formed.

The arm 24 of the bracket 23 extends upwardly and inwardly in the space between the members 16 of the elevator 11 and is secured at its upper end by a bolt 28 to a cross member 12a of the sub-frame 12. The bolt 28 passes through an aperture 29 formed in the upper end portion of the arm 24, and it is to be observed that the arm 24 is curved as indicated at 24:: in such manner that when a pin 18 on the elevator 11 approaches the level of the pin delivery chute 21, it comes in contact with the curved portion 24a of the arm 24 and is shifted thereby so that continued movement of the elevator causes the pin to be ejected or discharged into the chute 21, as illustrated in Figure 1. (See arrow 30.)

The arm 25 of the bracket 23 is disposed forwardly of the arm 24 and has a free upper end portion 25a disposed adjacent the ball delivery chute 20. The arm portion 25a is spaced forwardly from the arm 24 and is also spaced rearwardly from the mouth of the chute 20 by such distance that a ball 17, carried by the elevator, is contacted by the arm portion 25a and ejected thereby into the chute 20 as the elevator continues in its upward travel.

The balls 17 are larger in diameter than the pins 18 and the arms 24, 25 are so shaped that this dimensional difference between the balls and the pins causes the balls to be ejected by the arm 25 into the chute 20, yet permits the pins to travel upwardly past the arm portion 25a for ejection into the chute 21 by the arm portion 24a. The arrow 31 in Figure 1 indicates a ball being ejected into the chute 20, while Figure 3 illustrates a pin passing the arm portion 25a on its way to the chute 21.

The arms 24, 25 are preferably formed from steel or similar material which possesses some degree of resiliency, which is particularly exhibited in the free end portion 25a of the arm 25. The portion 25a is preferably spaced away from the mouth of the chute 20 by a distance which is slightly less than the diameter of the ball 17, so that when the ball comes in contact with the portion 25a, it causes the latter to spring back or yield rearwardly toward the arm 24, and subsequently return to its inital position with a resilient action which causes the ball to be positively ejected into the mouth of the chute 20.

Adjusting means are provided for pre-setting the position of the arm portion 25a with respect to the arm 24 and to the mouth of the chute 20, these means comprising an adjusting screw 32 provided with a lock nut 33, and extending through a threaded aperture 34 in the arm 24 so that the tip of its shank contacts the arm 25. It will be noted that by tightening or loosening the screw 32, the arm 25 may be set further away from or closer to the arm 24, as required.

In conjunction with the bracket 23, the invention also provides a ball guide designated generally by the numeral 35 and best shown in Figure 5. This ball guide is in the form of a vertically elongated metal plate 36 provided at its upper end with a forwardly angmlated flange 37 having apertured ears 38 to receive suitable bolts 39 whereby the plate 36 is secured to the bottom of the ball chute 20 adjacent the mouth of the latter.

The lower end of the plate 36 is formed with a forwardly curved lip 40 so that balls riding up on the elevator 11 are guided into contact with the plate without impact or obstruction. A transverse strap 41 is secured by welding, or the like, to the intermediate portion of the plate 36 and projects laterally therefrom, the projecting end portions of this strap being formed with vertical slots 42 to receive bolts 43 for attachment of the plate to the sub-frame 12. The slots 42 permit the bolts 43 to be readily inserted in matching or registering holes in the sub-frame, without any need for vertical adjustment of the mounting flange 37 at the bolts 39.

The plate 36 extends downwardly from the mouth of the ball chute 20 in opposing relation to the arm 25 of the bracket 23 and safeguards against any possibility of the balls being ejected from the elevator prior to reaching the ball chute. Some conventional machines employ a similar guide for this purpose, but such a guide is usually in the form of a trough made of wood. As such, the conventional guide is subjected to considerable wear by the contact of balls therewith, as well as frequent breakage requiring replacement. The metallic plate 36 of the instant invention is not only much simpler in structure, but will last indefinitely.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the invention provides extremely simple means for guiding the balls and ejecting both balls and pins from the elevator in a highly efiicient and dependable manner and without the use of complex mechanisms such as are subject to damage or loss of proper adjustment which frequently result in an interruption of operation of the machine as a whole.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure, and various modifications may be resorted to, such as may lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a bowling pin setting machine, the combination of a ball and pin elevator including spaced opposed runs of chain, spaced opposed platform members provided thereon, a ball delivery chute extending forwardly from an elevated level of said elevator and communicating with the space between said runs of chain, and a pin delivery chute extending forwardly from another level of said elevator spaced above the ball delivery chute level and communicating with the space between the runs of chain, and combined ball and pin ejecting means comprising an upwardly elongated unitary bracket secured at its lower end to said machine at a point below said ball delivery chute, said bracket comprising a relatively long pin ejecting arm extending upwardly and inwardly in the space between said platform members and secured at its upper end to said elevator at a point above said pin delivery chute whereby to eject pins from the elevator into the latter, and a relatively short ball ejecting arm disposed forwardly of said pin ejecting arm and extending upwardly and forwardly in the space between said platform members, said ball ejecting arm having a free upper end disposed adjacent said ball delivery chute but spaced therefrom by such distance relative to size of balls and pins as to eject balls from the elevator into the ball delivery chute while permitting pins to pass.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the upper end portion of said ball ejecting arm is resiliently yieldable toward said pin ejecting arm.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1 together with means for pre-adjusting the upper end portion of said ball ejecting arm forwardly and rearwardly relative to said pin ejecting arm.

4. The combination as defined in claim 1 together with means for pre-adjusting the upper end portion of said ball ejecting arm forwardly and rearwardly relative to said pin ejecting arm, said last mentioned means comprising an adjusting screw extending through a threaded aperture in one of said arms and engaging the other arm.

5. The combination as defined in claim 1 together with a vertically elongated ball guide comprising a fiat metallic plate secured to said elevator in opposing relation to said bracket and having its upper end secured to said ball delivery chute.

6. A combined ball and pin ejector for bowling pin setting machines, comprising an elongated unitary bracket adapted to be secured to a machine frame adjacent a ball and pin elevator, said bracket including a relatively long arm and a relatively short arm secured together at one 31d thereof, the other end portion of said long arm being curved to provide pin ejecting means, and the other end portion of said short arm being spaced from an intermediate portion of the long arm and providing ball ejecting means.

7. The device as defined in claim 6 together with means for pre-adjusting the spacing of said other end of said short arm from said long arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

